5.28.11 The Dichotomies.

A few dichotomous observations about our new home...

Korea has aggressive environmental policies and a plan to reduce carbon emissions 30% by 2020, but you are hard-pressed to find a public trashcan on a city street.

The children spend incredibly long hours at school, yet they are some of the happiest and most secure kids I've ever met. 

You can buy the latest cellphones on just about every block, but it is impossibe to find shoes larger than size 9 without making a trip to a special store.

Shih Tzus and Maltese are all the rage here, but much of the population reacts to our friendly and outgoing 10 pound Jack Russell as though she was the hound of the Baskervilles.

Korean women generally do not show cleavage or bare shoulders but they routinely wear 4 inch heels and skirts so short they should be classified as belts.

You can watch topless softcore porn on tv, but they censor cigarette smoking in movies and TV shows.

They espouse strict moral codes regarding premarital sex, but the shopping district of our city has about a dozen lingerie shops that stock some seriously racy stuff.

You can pick out your prostitute through the storefront windows where they are on display every night, but they censor porn on the internet (and it can be hard to find condoms).

Black clothing, black nail polish, black hair, black patterned stockings, fiercely strappy/bondage-ish shoes and boots, skull and skeleton jewelry and accesories, heavy eye make-up, and pale-as-death skin are all major parts of Korean fashion, but the idea of a Goth subculture is all but unknown. 

4.26.11 Goth in Jeonju

If you're someone who's used to participating in a vibrant goth scene of clubs, concerts, and alternative clothing stores, the lack of visible gothic culture in Jeonju might be off-putting. But if you come from a barren wasteland of jeans and cowboy boots like myself, Jeonju is a great place to goth it up.

Parasols

I occasionally carried a lace parasol in the States (I hate sunscreen), and brought it with me to Korea. Turns out I could have saved my time, because every little accessory store here stocks them in the dozens, in every shade of the rainbow. And I don't even have to feel ridiculously pretentious when I carry mine, because every sunny day I see at least three or four proudly upheld parasols on my way to work. Granted, the parasol-carrying seems mostly to be done by middle-aged women, so I'm still not exactly fitting in. Same issue with the skirts...

Clothing

In general, Koreans dress much more nicely than Americans. Since my wardrobe is on the formal side, this means I rarely feel overdressed.

Skirts are de rigeur for Korean women (skinny jeans are the other option). As a result, in every department store, boutique, and roadside stand there are a plethora of gorgeously lacy, frilly, tulle-y skirts. I can't walk down a street without spotting another skirt that I would have pulled teeth to obtain when in the States. Though I'm short on money and space I already caved and bought one, a lovely knee-length, gray, tulle skirt. It only set me back 5,600 won, or about five dollars, so I don't feel too guilty.

The only difficulty is that while knee-length skirts are available on the rack, they are far from common on the street. The skirts of schoolgirl uniforms are shorter than mine, and my co-workers regularly wear skirts of a length considered only appropriate for clubbing in the U.S. I'm actually beginning to feel like a frumpy old lady in my prim knee-length skirts. And to think that I was worried that they were too short for teaching...

Makeup

Makeup, in terms of eyeliner and lipstick, is applied pretty lightly here in Jeonju. Foundation, however, is another matter. There is no fake-bake in Korea - in fact, our friend Kate laughed pretty hard when we described it to her. Pale, perfect skin is everything, and to this end there are a myriad of excellent products available. I'm very fond of Skin Food, whose Black Sugar Scrub has smoothed and softened my skin quite a bit in the week that I've been using it.

If you don't have perfect skin, however, Korea is still your friend. The standards here for how much foundation is acceptable are quite different than in the States. In the U.S., I tried very hard to make it look as though I were wearing no makeup at all. Here, a certain level of visibility seems to be expected. I certainly see many more girls whose foundation is applied very heavily than I ever did back home. As a result, I'm applying my makeup with a freer hand, resulting in a paler complexion than before.

Decor

The one thing that's really lacking in Jeonju is gothy housewares. Fortunately, Linus and I brought some things to make our apartment feel more homey. One purple tapestry, two black metal suncatchers, and some creepy stuffed animals go a long way towards giving our compartment a cheerfully dark air. We did, however, spot some amazing black clocks downtown, so soon our apartment will have a touch of made-in-Korea gothy goodness.